In modern stalls for dairy cattle, different bedding materials are used, with different degrees of success. Each of the various bedding materials has its own advantages and disadvantages. As is well known in the art, sand has been found to be an acceptable bedding material, and is capable of providing superior results in terms of cow hygiene and comfort.
A cross-section of a typical stall 20 of the prior art is illustrated in FIG. 1A. A top view of three typical stalls is provided in FIG. 1B. (As will be described, the balance of the drawings illustrate the present invention.) The stall 20 typically includes an enclosure region 21 extending between upper and lower ends 22, 24.
The typical stall 20 includes a curb 26 positioned on a floor 28 of the barn. Because of the curb 26, sand 30 in the stall 20 is held above the floor 28. As can be seen in FIG. 1A, the sand 30 is typically underlain by a base 32 of suitable material. The stall 20 typically also includes an upper wall 33 and a post 34 which supports a divider element 36, for marking a lateral boundary of the stall 20. As can be seen in FIG. 1B, the stall 20 typically also includes another divider element 37 defining the other side of the stall 28.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that the sand 30 is located in the enclosure region 21 for the stall 20. The enclosure region 21 is located between the upper wall 33 and the curb 26.
In FIG. 1B, two additional prior art stalls are illustrated, identified as 20A and 20B for convenience. Those skilled in the art would appreciate that, in practice, any number of stalls may be located together in one or more rows.
Those skilled in the art would also appreciate that the stall 20 is designed so that, when a cow “A” is lying in the stall 20, a back end “B” of the cow's body is located proximal to the lower end 24, and a front end “C” of the cow's body is located proximal to the upper end 22. The typical stall is not wide enough to permit the cow to turn around in the stall. Accordingly, for the cow to exit the stall, the cow must stand up and back out of the stall.
It can be seen from FIGS. 1A and 1B that, when the cow “A” is in the stall, the back end “B” of the cow is positioned generally in the vicinity of the curb 26, and may be somewhat outside the stall (i.e., beyond the curb 26), e.g., when the cow is standing in the stall. It is intended that, because of this positioning, urine and feces from the cow falls onto the floor (or gutter) 28, i.e., outside the stall 20. The prior art stall is designed with its size and layout in order to generally avoid contamination of the sand in the prior art stall by manure, although such contamination sometimes does occur, to a limited extent.
However, one disadvantage of the typical prior art stall is that, in practice, a substantial amount of sand is moved out of the stall and onto the floor 28, i.e., in the directions indicated by arrows “X” and “Y” in FIG. 1A. Such outward movement of the sand is due to the movement of the cow, as the cow exits the stall. This is generally due to a tendency to shuffle, i.e., the cow drags its hooves over the sand, as the cow backs out of the stall. In this way, each cow moves some sand out of the prior art stall and onto the floor every time it exits the prior art stall.
It has been determined that a surprisingly large amount of sand is removed from the prior art stalls in this way. It is estimated that approximately 45-50 pounds (approximately 20.4-22.7 kg.) of sand is required to be replaced in the typical prior art stall once every day.
For the reasons set out above, the floor 28 typically has manure on it. Accordingly, when sand is moved out of the stall and onto the floor 28 as described above, the sand is mixed with the manure, to provide a sand-manure mixture.
This has serious, and costly, consequences, because of the relatively large amounts of sand that are mixed with the manure. As is well known in the art, the manure on the floor is required to be removed regularly, and then processed. Any sand that has become mixed in the manure on the floor is removed with it. Once removed, the sand-manure mixture usually is processed in accordance with typical practices, e.g., the mixture of sand and manure is ultimately spread on fields. However, because of the relatively large amounts of sand involved, the mixture of the sand in the manure typically has significant negative impacts. First, the sand adds significant weight to the material to be processed. Because of the amount of sand which may be mixed into the manure (e.g., in a large barn), the additional weight can be significant. Second, because the sand is abrasive, it causes the processing machinery to wear out more quickly. Finally, the sand lost from the stalls has to be replaced, adding significantly to operating costs.
One solution that has been proposed is to process the sand-manure mixture to remove the sand therefrom, and to clean the sand. However, this adds significant capital costs, because a special machine is needed for removing the sand and cleaning it. Also, the steps of removing and cleaning the sand adds significantly to the operational costs incurred in processing the sand-manure mixture on an ongoing basis. Additional costs are also incurred in connection with moving the cleaned sand back into the stalls.